1990

I have many recollections of drunken stupors. In particular, I remember lying in the middle of the road after drinking almost a bottle of gin, surrounded by people trying to get me up. My recollection of that experience is especially vivid partly because I never touched a drop of gin again. I was 14 years old. Don't blame it on the alcoholic, blame it on the gin! Within that 14-month period of foster home number two, I cemented my addiction to cigarettes, found marijuana and, while I drank slightly less during this period, I knew by now that alcohol was available to me to change the way that I felt – the alcoholic's dream!